


Pulled Between Two Lives

by Nightlit



Series: Lit By Night Evolution Fics [1]
Category: X-Men Evolution
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2009-12-24
Updated: 2009-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-05 05:25:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightlit/pseuds/Nightlit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A human born of mutants is orphaned by a Sentinel attack on his hidden mutant community. He has fought, felt, feared & favored many powers yet has none. He is caught between two worlds which should be one. He is truly within neither, yet pulled towards both...</p><p>This is his story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pulled Between Two Lives

It had come upon them faster than they could think. Pierce had been home from college for a week and this was the first time since then that the Warren family had been able to settle down for a typical family dinner do to the chaos of moving his stuff back into the house. Neil was in the process of asking Pierce to pass the peas, mainly because he thought it was cool when his brother hovered them over to him using his telekinesis, when a red light smashed through the ceiling cutting the dining room table in half. His father quickly shoved him and Pierce out the front door. Pierce pulled him away even as he stood paralyzed, watching his parents get cut to ribbons by red lights.

Pierce pulled Neil along quickly avoiding the other people in the street. Neil had no idea where his brother was taking him. He was too shocked. He had watched his parents go through a rather gruesome death.

“_Come on!”_ Neil knew this was bad. Pierce never used his telepathy on him even for simple communication unless it was a real emergency. Neil hated telepathy and so it was his way of saying “this is very important.”

“_What is going on?”_ Neil thought back.

“_It’s a sentinel.”_ Pierce answered quickly.

“_A what?”_ Neil had no idea what he was talking about.

“_A robot designed to search out and destroy mutants.”_ Pierce said quickly.

“_You need to go then! I’m just weighing you down!”_ Neil knew he wasn’t a mutant. It wasn’t that he could be unawakened. He knew that he didn’t carry the gene.

“_I don’t know that you wouldn’t get killed in the crossfire or even that it is making genetic distinctions right now! They are not programmed to spare humans who get in their way!”_

“_How do you know all of this?”_ Neil was perplexed.

“_Does it really matter? We both need to get out of here!”_ With that, Pierce shoved Neil outside of the gate. Neil turned around to see one of the giant androids pointing a hand at Pierce as he stepped through the gate himself.

“Look out!” He yelled. Pierce turned around right into a flash of red light. Neil turned and ran not being able to handle this. He was certain his brother was ripped asunder as his parents had been and he couldn’t watch. He didn’t stop, didn’t turn back. He kept on running until he could barely move his legs anymore. It was then that he realized that he was alone. The sentinels had not followed him. Part of him was guilty. Maybe he could have done something? He knew how foolish that thought was even as he thought it. Pierce had probably saved his life at the cost of his own, his parents for the sakes of them both.

“Neil Warren?” A somewhat gruff but not unkind sounding voice appeared behind him. He noticed the sound of a helicopter spinning. He had been so lost in thought that he hadn’t noticed the helicopter land only yards away from him, so lost that he didn’t notice the man until he said his name, put a hand put on his shoulder.

Neil Nodded in response, “I’m sorry kid.” The voice said although it sounded forced, like it was something one was supposed to say in the situation. Still it was more than Neil would have expected to get from a random stranger. _A random stranger who just happens to know my name?_ Neil did an about face at the thought. He had been shocked at what had happened but now that that shock was wearing off he became wary of this man. He knew his name and was sorry. Neil’s only conclusion was that he knew about the attack. He took a good look at the man he was now facing, taking in every detail as his eyes had learned to do after years of watching the other mutant children. His acute sense of body language was his only defense against some of the more dangerous powers. He had learned to be wary of every step out of place, every flick of the wrist. Ready to jump out of the way at the least bit of movement that could mean a heat ray or silver spike heading his way.

The man was taller than him, although only slightly taller than he thought was normal for a man his age. Neil had always been a tad short. He had gruff looking features but the singular eye not covered by an eye patch looked kind enough if not a bit wary. He was used to this look. It was a look many of the older mutants had since their kind had been publicly discovered. His body was rather stiff as if he were ready for anything. He was wearing a black trench coat that was open in the front and under it he was wearing some kind of dark uniform. Gray hair topped off a broad muscular frame. “I am sorry about your home. I wish I could have done more to save it…” The man looked down at his shoes, his body slumping ever so slightly. His eyes seemed to unfocus just a tad. He was clearly feeling guilty.

“What happened?” Neil asked, no longer frightened by the man. If he was going to be dangerous he probably would have by now. And even if he still was, there was no way Neil could overpower him even if he tried with all his might. This was obviously a trained, hardened individual. An untrained puny teenager would stand no chance against a man such as this.

“I wish I could tell ya kid. But I can’t.” The man looked as close to devastated as he expected such a man could be. It was strange. The man was very good at hiding his feelings. If he hadn’t had all the experience watching others for his own protection he would never have picked all of this up. _Maybe something positive came out of how those assholes treated me after all._ He immediately regretted his thoughts. Yes they had been mean to him, some of them still were. But none of them deserved to die. This brought him back to the memory of his family being ripped apart, of his brother turning straight into the light, of him running, running and running some more until he could barely even stand. It was then that he noticed that he was leaning against the man now. He was barely able to keep himself standing even with the man’s support.

“Sir what should we do with him?” A younger sounding voice snapped Neil out of his painful thoughts.

“I will take personal responsibility for this. Sedate him and take him with us.” The man responded with a very authoritarian tone.

“But sir even if…” The younger man sounded worried.

“Don’t worry. I have a friend who I think will take him in.” The man was still authoritarian yet his voice was also soothing somehow. It was clear this man was a great leader, and had been leading whatever he was leading for some time.

“Even with his mutant lineage?” Neil knew that even if he wasn’t a mutant that his parentage would be a problem. That was part of the reason his family was so careful, although that hardly mattered now.

“Yes, just don’t ask. Remember we didn’t find anybody.” The young man nodded. The older man looked at Neil. His eyes squinted, gauging him. Neil simply nodded, he could keep a secret. He had been keeping his entire community a secret from the outside world forever. This was child’s play compared to that. The man nodded back with a successful smirk on his face.

“Then let’s go.” The young man turned to face him. “I’m sorry but we’ll have to put you under.” Neil nodded. He could tell they were acting super casual towards him by how stiff their actions were. Likely because of the trauma he had experienced. These men seemed used to not apologizing or feeling guilt. Neil didn’t really care. He didn’t even care if they put him under using drugs. Now that his adrenaline rush was disappearing he was certain he would fall into a quite unbreakable sleep simply from his own exhaustion…

**About a Week Later**

Charles Xavier, Ororo Monroe, Logan, Bobby Drake, Jean Grey and Scott Summers were all sitting in one of the institute’s standard vans on their way to the airport to pick up their newest member. Jean, Scott and Bobby were chatting in the back about training. Ororo, Charles and Logan, on the other hand, were in a serious mental conversation about their newest charge and his special situation.

“_Charles, are you absolutely certain that this is wise? He is human after all. Wouldn’t a human family be better for him?”_ Ororo wasn’t certain the professor had thought this through completely. While she trusted his judgment most of the time, this was a case that was incredibly personal for him and she was uncertain that he was thinking entirely rationally.

“_He has lived with mutants his entire life Ororo. I doubt that will be the largest issue in his transition.”_ Charles saw her point however. Despite the knowledge that they were mutants, Neil wouldn’t have had major contact with mutant powers in the same way he would at the institute. Aside of antics among the children and a few benign utilitarian usages the community lived rather power free. That was mainly how they had remained hidden for so much longer than many other large mutant populations. Anyone passing by would never have assumed that they were mutants at all. Still, he wasn’t certain that a human family wouldn’t be much better. It was a difficult question with no truly better answer. He suspected the only way to really know which would be better would be to scan the boy himself and find out. But one thing he remembered about him was his hatred of telepathy, and he wanted to respect that as much as possible. He would have to inform Jean of this.

“_I agree with Ororo Chuck. It’s just not safe for a human there. With cannonball and berserker around it’s a miracle that we still have Jamie intact.”_ Charles thought about Logan’s comment. That was also something to consider, however it was not a major worry of his. Neil had been exposed to dangerous powers like theirs and survived, even if they weren’t commonly used, children were still children and there had been a comparatively large number of mutant children in that area. The only reason he had not recruited there was that he had always had an unspoken agreement with that particular group of mutants that aside of visiting every so often he would not meddle in their affairs. They, in turn, did not meddle in his.

“_I don’t think that will be a major issue although it is something I have greatly considered. While I do take your recommendations very seriously, at the moment we have no choice but to put him up at the very least until we can find a better place for him. Despite his not having the X-gene, it is now known that he is the child of two mutants. That greatly limits anyone’s ability to place him with a family, mutant or not.”_ Charles had other hopes for this as well. He had been toying with the idea of inviting a human to live on the institute to help with mutant human relations. While a human who grew up with mutants was not exactly the same as what he originally had in mind, it was a good start, possibly a better start than his original plan. He expected that Neil’s adjustment wouldn’t be the major issue here. As it stood, it was more the other students’ reactions to the boy that worried him. He knew some of them hadn’t had the best time with the humans in their lives and at least a few of them still held grudges. This was especially the case after they had all been revealed and subsequently given a hard time at school. That was over and done with for the most part but it still left a lasting impression on his students that he was unsure how to approach. He hoped Neil would be a good solution. Of course this was like blowing onto a fire. It could put the fire out or it could spread it uncontrollably. Yes, he had considered the implications of what he was doing greatly. Probably more than the others realized.

Ororo sighed. “_I know you like the boy Charles. I do as well. He was sweet and highly loving for a six year old. But it has been ten years since then. He has grown and is now a teenager. We do not know what has happened since then in his life aside of a few letters and phone calls from his parents. I don’t believe we can even begin to guess how he will react to this. Especially considering that he does not know and effectively has no choice in the matter for at least a few weeks likely longer. Must I point out that we have never forced a prospect to join? I know how difficult this is because of his unique situation. But…”_

Now it was Charles turn to sigh. He had thought of this too. It wasn’t just his plan that made him feel this was just. It wasn’t just that he thought this would be easier on the boy than going through the foster system as the child of a mutant. No, he had promised Avery and Monica that he would protect their children if they ever were unable too. He had expected that they would be mutants and so coming to the institute was a convenient solution. Cerebro could not tell if a human was going to awaken as a mutant before they did. The people in that community had figured out a way of scanning for the gene itself within the host body, so they knew who was a mutant or not at birth. In any case he had not been truly aware of Neil’s definitely not being a mutant until the previous year. Before that his parents had told him they had doubts, but he hadn’t considered them as he hadn’t known about their scanning technology then. Being that the boy was fifteen at the time of this discovery, he had figured that he would be on his own before anything even remotely like this happened. He had been wrong and so had made last minute adjustments to his plans. He didn’t like to do things in such an unplanned manner, but it was inevitable. “_I know, I just don’t really know what else I can do.”_

Logan and Ororo remained silent. It was rare that Charles was this unsure of himself, even rarer still that he was going through with his plan regardless of their worries. Then again he had a point, what could they do at this juncture? Even had they talked about this before, could they really have left the boy to the world alone? She thought not, at least not her or Charles. Despite his possible changes do to age, they still had a connection to him that went beyond simple friendship. No one but his family knew about that night…about the terror that Neil had faced, or the two passing mutants who had saved him from it. Truth be told, she was terrified that night as well. She had witnessed mutants far more sadistic than Magneto. Magneto had a purpose to his madness, to his willingness to kill humans mercilessly. These mutants were torturing a human child simply because they could, and could get something out of it to boot. She wondered if he still remembered that, wondered again whether this was such a good idea.

“_I know Ororo…I know.”_ This was the one major kink in his plan. If Neil still remembered, if he was still greatly affected by that memory, then this could be doomed to fail before it had even begun. He shuddered at what he had seen in that mind that night. Even Eric had shuddered when Charles had shared the memory with him. They had been on better terms back then. Oh they still had different ideals, but that was before Eric had totally become Magnus, Magneto, before he totally succumbed to his hatred.

**Meanwhile**

“I hear the X-Men have a new recruit. Should we try to get to him first?” John was itching for a fight. He hadn’t been able to burn something significant in ages and was starting to get antsy.

What John didn’t know was that there were certain lines that even Magneto wouldn’t cross. Neil Warren was one of them. That memory Charles had shared with him ten years ago was one of the few that still haunted him, that went beyond what even his deadened emotions could erase. “He is not a mutant John. He is of no use to our cause.”

“But, if he is a human than why don’t we just go roast him than?” Magneto was getting tired of Pyro’s antics. Didn’t he understand that this wasn’t just about killing all the humans and being done with it? If that were the case it wouldn’t be nearly as difficult as it was. This was much more complex than that. Also Charles and his X-Men would have come and destroyed them all had that been his plan all along. Even though his Acolytes were older and more experienced, the X-Men outnumbered them and were skilled enough to destroy them if they really tried. Besides, genocide was an imprudent course of action. The humans had their uses even in his new world. He would stoop that low if he had too, but mindless killing was not going to get him any closer to his ideal world. Humans were already terrified of them. Killing a random child in an airport wouldn’t noticeably change that. On the contrary, it would probably cause an outcry of anger. Though mutants were superior, that was not the deciding factor when they were outnumbered by the humans thousands to one. A thousand humans was a threat to almost anyone. If his acolytes were not in a position to defeat a few mutant children they definitely weren’t in a position to go against a giant mob, especially with him in his weakened state after the events with Apocalypse. It was crucial that he set his pride aside for the moment and not falter from his ultimate goal. The previous events had been a major pothole in his plans and he had to orchestrate his recovery very carefully.

Then there was Charles and his connection to the boy. Attacking him was one of the few things that could really get him angry, angry enough to actually mount an offensive against him, an offensive that he was not certain he could effectively counter. He thought about the other things, other things he desperately avoided to avoid his old friend’s wrath. Charles was a patient man, much like himself. But also like himself, he was very powerful and once angered his retribution was both quick and painful. Of his acolytes, only Gambit seemed to understand that. Even mastermind underestimated the outwardly frail man.

“We will not harm that boy unless he directly interferes with us. Stop being foolish and get ready for the plan.” _Maybe this is just the thing I need._ If Neil was a big enough distraction than maybe he could elude the X-Men’s notice just long enough to finish his current arrangement. A new idea was formulating in his head. Yes, that would work. He would have to contact the brotherhood again. He had a mission for his daughter. Yes, that would do quite nicely.

**Meanwhile**

Neil had been sitting at the airport waiting for who knew who to come pick him up for over three hours. At first he had spent his time watching everything that was going on as he had trained himself to do and now found quite enjoyable. After an hour and a half of that he found his mind wandering and his eyes seeing a blur instead of the busy airport terminal. It wasn’t that he was tired, as he had gotten plenty of sleep the previous night and then even more on the plane ride here. No he was bored out of his mind and had no idea who, when or even if someone was going to pick him up.

The previous week had been chaotic but not as bad as he had thought it would be. He had been left to himself for the most part and the chaos had been his own confusion at suddenly having to be independent rather than any outside events. After being put out by the army people he had awoken in a hotel room wearing a nightgown with his clothes cleaned and folded up next to his bed. It struck him as odd that they bothered. It seemed out of character for those types of men. _I suppose I will have to stop judging people like that._ He thought as he got dressed.

It was then that he noticed the roll of bills on the table. Under the roll was an unsigned typed note that had obviously been delivered through a fax machine. _They are really careful._

‘You’re future accommodations are being worked on as we speak. The room you are in is registered in your name for the next seven days. Hopefully before then someone will come and get you. This money is courtesy of your benefactor who has asked you to contact this number if you need anything else…’

Simply glad to have such a benefactor, Neil had not worried too much about the anonymity of the note.

For the next few days Neil had stayed in the room watching TV for the most part, leaving only to buy groceries. He had gone to a fast food place the first night but realized that it would be more prudent to save as much of the money as he could. He trusted that he would be picked up eventually, but he wanted to take every precaution in case he wasn’t. He still had fifty of the hundred dollars that had been left for him. He was shocked at first that they had given him that much money for only a week’s stay, but after living for a few days he realized that he hadn’t been given that much at all.

On the sixth day he got a call from the front desk telling him to get ready to leave as someone would be picking him up the next morning. He had made sure to get clean and get together the money that he had and the note, which he thought to keep just in case he needed it, he had watched enough spy movies to know that one never threw anything away so long as it could still be useful and was not a liability. He couldn’t really see how an anonymous faxed typed note could be a liability however it could be proof that he was who he said he was. It wasn’t that he was worried about that particularly. More that he was being overly cautious as he really was relying on whoever this benefactor was. He knew that he didn’t have anyone else to rely on.

True to their word, a person showed up the next day. He didn’t ask for any proof, much to Neil’s relief, and had simply told him he was taking him to the airport. The man hadn’t talked to him and Neil really didn’t want to get anymore involved with these people than he already was. He was grateful that they were bothering to help him at all and beyond that he didn’t want to meddle in their affairs any more than he already had.

After giving him his ticket, the man left telling him only that he still needed to check in at the terminal, but not to worry everything was already preplanned. Neil had been surprised at how painless it had been. Other than the relative unease of being at such a large airport by himself everything had gone perfectly fine. So fine in fact that he was worried the plane would crash or something and that all of this would be for nothing. That had not happened however and he had slept through almost the entire flight. That left him sitting here waiting for some unknown person come pick him up.

**Meanwhile**

Charles, Ororo, Jean and Scott had left Bobby and Logan to get Neil’s luggage while they went to meet the boy at the terminal. Scott was about to ask Charles if he knew who he was looking for when he heard the voice of a young man happily yell, “Ororo? Uncle Charlie?” The young man had an incredibly relieved expression on his face as he ran up to Charles and hugged him. He had blue eyes but his skin seemed darker than what Scott might have expected of someone with such light eyes, though it was far from dark it looked like he might have a bit of Spanish or Italian decent. He was wearing a solid black baseball cap and none of his hair was showing. He looked a little younger than his sixteen years, and he was wearing a white t-shirt and jeans. Charles laughed adoringly at him.

Scott looked at Jean, “_Uncle Charlie?”_ Jean shrugged in response.

“It is nice to see you too Neil. My, my, have you grown.” Charles continued smiling as he said this. Scott watched patiently. Apparently Charles had more of a connection to the new recruit than the others. So why then hadn’t he been here earlier? He supposed he would find out soon enough.

Neil laughed, “Ten years will do that to a six year old.” Charles and Ororo laughed adoringly.

“_Well at least he has a sense of humor.”_ Scott thought to Jean.

“_If you say so.”_ She thought back.

“_Well I thought it was funny.”_ Scott smirked in Jean’s direction.

Jean looked at him smiling. “_You also think your jokes are funny.”_ Scott frowned at her but couldn’t keep his face straight for longer than a few seconds. Even he had to admit, most of his jokes were pretty lame.

Neil was shocked to see them as he hadn’t expected them at all. Charles and Ororo looked pretty much how he remembered them. Ororo looked older of course and they both seemed oddly shorter to him than the giant people in his memory. He laughed at himself for thinking that odd, it had been ten years since he saw them too. It was then that he noticed the two younger people watching them intently. While others were giving them looks, they weren’t anything spectacular, after all they were in an airport and so heartfelt reunions shouldn’t be particularly strange. This meant that likely the younger people were with them. The young man was older and taller than Neil, he looked nineteen or twenty. He had brown hair and was wearing ruby tinted sunglasses. Standing next to him was a woman who looked about the same age as him with red hair. They both had amused expressions on their faces.

“Let me introduce the rest of our entourage.” Charles said, “The man in the red glasses is Scott and this is Jean.” Neil was a tad intimidated by Scott but he didn’t want to be rude so he walked up somewhat sheepishly and shook the taller man’s hand. He then shook Jean’s hands. She was also slightly taller than him.

Ororo looked at Charles, “Shall we go?” She asked in her powerful voice. That was something that Neil remembered, it was something impossible to forget. That voice, powerful yet soothing, it represented safety to him in a way that he was certain it meant to few other people.

Charles continued smiling, “Yes I think we shall.” He said. Scott started pushing Charles wheelchair and they headed towards the front of the airport.

Jean looked at Neil appraisingly, it made him feel uncomfortable. “So, are you excited to be at the institute?” Neil looked at her blankly, he hadn’t been told about an institute. He noticed Charles and Ororo tense up a little, but neither one of them said anything.

“Institute?” He asked, unsure how else to respond.

Jean looked somewhat confused, “Yeah the institute for people like us.” A memory reached out to him from when he was a child. He remembered Xavier saying something to him about starting an institute for mutants. They must all be mutants, and he was headed to that institute? He was suddenly not so relieved anymore. “So?” She trailed off as the conversation had gotten too awkward.

Now that Neil bothered looking around at the other people, he noticed that their group was getting a lot more attention than he would have expected and it was largely negative. They must be well known mutants around here. Jean was looking confused and a bit put off. He better say something before this misunderstanding gets out of hand. “I’m not a mutant.” He said softly to her. Her body language totally changed. She looked rather flustered and unsure of what to say. He looked at Scott. He had a confused expression on his face. Neil almost felt like he’d been kicked in the stomach. It wasn’t that he wasn’t used to people assuming he was a mutant, not only were most of the people where he lived mutants, but his utter lack of body hair was also sometimes assumed to be a physical change as a result of a mutant power. Telling people otherwise had always been troubling. He had always felt like an outsider. Jean’s flustered response, even if it went away a few seconds later, said enough.

Charles spoke up, “Neil is a child of a family of mutants who were killed in a sentinel attack. He is coming to live with us until he decides what he wishes to do.” Jean looked sorry, Neil nodded to her. It wasn’t as if this was a normal situation on any of their parts. Neil assumed that they were used to picking up wayward boys and girls like him, the exception being that the others were mutants. He couldn’t blame them for not assuming otherwise.

They reached the front of the airport and walked towards a black van. Sitting behind the wheel was a gruff looking man with hair that pointed outward. He had broad shoulders and Neil was immediately intimidated by him. Sitting across form him in the passenger seat was a boy of about his age. Charles introduced them, “Neil Warren, meet Bobby Drake and Logan.” Neil nodded at the older man and shook the young man’s outstretched hand. He quickly pulled them away, his hands were freezing. Neil was slightly hurt that the boy had used his powers on him. Bobby probably assumed that he was a mutant, like he figured everyone else would.

“Alright kid, in the back ya go.” Logan said to Bobby.

“Awe!” Bobby said, although Neil knew it would never work on the man. Logan surprised him by smirking slightly at Bobby’s childish gesture before resuming his grumpy expression and pointing towards the back of the van with his thumb. Bobby lowered his head in an overdramatic show of defeat before disappearing between the two front seats of the van.

A wheelchair elevator came out of the van and Scott wheeled Charles onto it. After he was hoisted into the van, Ororo took the front seat while Jean helped strap in Charles wheelchair. Bobby waved to Neil with a smile on his face. Neil was quite uncomfortable with the boy and decided to sit in the seat on the far side of Charles from where Bobby was sitting. Scott sat down next to him and Jean sat down between Bobby and Charles.

Neil looked at Charles, “So you actually made your mutant institute?” He asked sheepishly.

“Yes. We have had a few bumps along the way but in general it has been a great success.” Scott smirked at Charles use of the word ‘bumps.’ This didn’t make Neil feel any better.

“And I will be living there…” Neil asked, even more sheepishly.

Charles sighed, “At least for a little while. If you wish I will find you a good foster family and you can leave as soon as that it done. However I would greatly like for you to stay with us on a more permanent basis.”

“But I’m not a mutant. Why would you want me there?” Neil said, his gaze lowering to between his legs, his heart beating heavily in his chest.

At first Bobby was just put off by Neil’s obvious show of not sitting next to him. Now he was surprised and a little hurt. _Why would the prof. bring in a non mutant?_ He suddenly felt a little bad about freezing his hand. Then again Neil had avoided him. He wasn’t sure what to think so he decided to make ice statues in his hands. It was something he had started doing in his boredom and found it was a nice way to pass the time.

“But where will I stay?” Neil asked, “I mean…I don’t want to intrude.”

Charles looked at Bobby _Uh oh. Why is he looking at me?_

“That is actually why I brought you along Bobby. I have decided after careful consideration that you would be the perfect roommate for him.” Bobby’s eyes grew wide.

“_What!”_ Bobby asked, he had always known he would get a roommate eventually, after all he was only alone because Jamie was younger and so had his own room for his protection, Sam was alone for other’s protection and aside of that there was an odd number of male new recruits. But he had gotten used to living alone and this kid would cramp his style. He looked at Neil again, he already didn’t like him. He wasn’t one of them. Why should he have to give up his privacy for someone who would probably be moving out anyway? At least he sincerely hoped he would. What Charles had said about wanting him to stay there on a more permanent basis bothered him.

“_Bobby it only makes sense since you are alone to make him your room mate. I think you will get along quite nicely if you give him a chance.”_ Charles voice rang out in his head.

“_But he’s not even a mutant? Why is he here anyway?”_ Bobby was really annoyed now.

He saw Charles sigh. “_You will know soon enough. I implore you to give him a chance. It will be a hard enough transition for us all as it is.”_ Bobby looked at his hands and then looked at Neil. He was still staring at the ground. He crushed the ice statues in his hands. It just wasn’t fair. Why was he stuck with the new human? Besides, the kid looked like he was only slightly older than Jamie. He knew he wouldn’t get anywhere arguing more so he just settled with grumbling to himself about how unfair everything was.

The rest of the journey to the institute was spent in silence. Neil spent the rest of the time looking around and nervously glancing at everyone. Bobby spent it being annoyed at Neil for having to share a room. He got more annoyed and eventually angry at each of Neil’s nervous glances. Scott spent the time gauging Neil. Ororo, Logan and Charles were each of them thinking their own thoughts about what would result of this unexpected occurrence.

Jean on the other hand was fighting her curious urge to poke into Neil’s mind as she had been informed about his dislike of such mental contact. She also noticed that he was very good at keeping his thought to himself. Most of the other new recruits wore their thoughts on their foreheads and she had to actively block them as a result. He had yet to leak anything even remotely useful which could only mean that he had previous substantial contact with telepathy, though his dislike of it would make more sense if that was the case.

As they turned the last corner, the institute came into view. Neil stared at the large brick wall with large metal gates surrounding what looked like a rich person’s estate, complete with a very large building that looked quite like a mansion on the top of a hill. The grounds seemed very large to Neil, almost as large as the entirety of his former community. As they drove up a road towards a large garage by the side of the building, he stared in awe at the beautiful and varied terrain of the grounds. It was so large that he couldn’t even see the walls on either side of it from where he was. He supposed that the trees blocking his vision were creating an illusion of it being bigger than it really was but that didn’t make it any less breathtaking. The garage had a red convertible, a jeep, an empty space presumably for the van they were in and a set of increasingly stranger and obviously more specialized vehicles that made him wonder just what kind of “institute” this really was. Clearly it was not simply a training ground for mutant youth.

Charles led the group into a kitchen area that was attached to the garage. Neil stood near Ororo looking around nervously. For some reason Bobby seemed to dislike him, when Neil looked at him he had a distinct distasteful expression on his face. _Great, first day and I already I manage to piss off my roommate. And he has cold powers, great._

Neil wasn’t paying much attention to the rest of the house as he was led through a foyer into a sitting room. As soon as he saw other younger residents he looked straight at the floor. He was too nervous to do anything but stare or make fervent looks and he figured not looking at all was better than either. As at least this way his nervousness wasn’t directed at a specific person.

In the sitting room was a man with blue fur and large muscular arms and legs that made him look somewhat like a blue ape. His eyes shined with intelligence and he had a cautious expression on his face. Neil wasn’t surprised by this. He knew any number of mutants with atypical builds, some of which were much less human looking than this man’s was. The man was obviously surprised when he walked up and extended his hand, even if it was nervously. The truth was that something about this man calmed him down. He supposed that most people were so shocked by his obvious inhuman traits that they don’t notice his warm, casual friendly body language. “I’m Neil.” He said somewhat nervously.

“I’m Hank. I am sorry if my appearance disturbs you…”

Neil cut him off, “No actually.” He said, less nervously than before. Hank smiled nicely. He seemed somewhat impressed but didn’t say anything.

Charles looked around the room as he said, “I have called the other students.”

A somewhat younger looking boy with quite normal looking clothing appeared in the room in a puff of smoke. Neil was not surprised by this in the least. One of his brother’s best friends was a teleporter, although her teleporting hadn’t brought forth a sulfurous smell. The boy’s hair was dark with an odd bluish tint and his eyes were big and friendly, although his body language looked guarded, as if he expected to be rejected.

Charles spoke to the boy, “Kurt, this is Neil. And you can be yourself around him, he won’t freak out I assure you.” The boy looked at Neil nervously and then touched the watch on his arm. His body seemed to blur not indifferent from the way an old television blurred between channels. In the relatively inane looking boy’s place was a boy with a quite different look. His skin had been replaced with very short blue fur and his arms and legs became much more animalistic. His hands had three fingers on them as well as his feet having three toes and last he had a long tale. His hair was the one thing that remained mostly the same, it’s tinge became slightly more blue, which Neil thought matched his fur much better than the dull bluish black of his other form. Though Neil was somewhat surprised by the transition he didn’t find the boy particularly strange. People like him and the blue furred man were a rare but not abnormal occurrence.

Kurt looked at Neil with a frown. Neil realized that he was still incredibly nervous and Kurt was probably thinking it was because of him. He was obviously a bit uncomfortable with his looks. He held out a steady hand, “Hi Kurt I’m Neil.” He said. He wondered if he should just say that he didn’t find Kurt’s appearance bothersome or if he should not mention it at all. Kurt shook his hand nervously and then touched his watch again and reactivated his more human looking self before sitting down on a couch. Neil was about to say something when a girl ran into the room through the wall. Neil had to blink for a second. He had never encountered a power with an even remotely similar effect.

She ran over to him, through the couch Kurt was sitting on and shook his hand. “Hi! You must be the new guy, I’m Kitty.” She seemed rather bubbly and Happy and Neil’s nervousness was starting to dissipate now. He liked the two kids he saw so far aside of Bobby. Bobby still stared at him in disdain. Neil sighed, he knew this wouldn’t be easy but making an immediate enemy with his future roommate was ridiculous. Kitty looked at him, “So like, what do you do?” She asked him.

He was about to respond when Charles spoke up, “I think we should wait for the others Kitty. Neil’s situation is unique and I would rather it be explained to everyone as to make his transition as smooth as possible.” This had the exact effect Neil knew it would. It made her want to know even more. He groaned, his nervousness had returned in full force.

A few minutes later the doors to the room opened and four more people entered the room: an innocent looking blond boy, a taller boy with darker skin who looked like he was from South America, a younger boy who looked twelve or thirteen and a girl with darker skin who seemed shy.

“Who’s the new guy?” The tall darker skinned boy said in something of a Brazilian accent. The other two boys looked curious but shy and neither said anything. The girl just looked at him curiously.

“I will explain everything once Ray gets here.” Charles said calmly. He pointed to the innocent blonde, “This is Sam,” then to the darker skinned boy, “Roberto,” next to the younger boy, “Jamie,” last to the girl, “and Amara.” The four students sat down at varying places all over the room. Neil noticed he had been standing there nervously the entire time so he sat down on the couch next to Hank, something about the older man kept him at ease. He felt a large furry hand on his shoulder. It relaxed him a lot, although he was still wary of what the students would think. He figured the adults had already been informed about his situation.

A few minutes after the group of four came through the door a tall light skinned boy with an obvious attitude and punk-ish look walked into the room and sat down next to Jamie. _This must be Ray._ Neil wasn't sure what to think about him. On the one hand it looked like he wouldn't take anything from anybody. But on the other hand the way he was sitting next to the younger man beside him was protective. The way he looked at Neil wary, but curious.

“Well, now that we are all here, I would like to introduce you all to Neil Warren.” Neil blushed and looked up at the group. They were all looking at him appraisingly. Bobby was looking at him through squinted eyes and it looked like he was stopping himself from blurting something out. Neil was certain he knew what it was he wanted to say.

“Is Neil our newest recruit?” Jamie asked, a little downtrodden.

“Not exactly Jamie. You see, Neil is in a special situation as am I. I made a promise to his parents that I would take care of him if they ever were unable to. Only a week ago they were killed during a sentinel attack on his mostly mutant community, Neil was the only known survivor so now I am keeping that promise.” Most of the eyes in the room softened at that. Neil saw pity in them, he wasn’t sure if that was better than curiosity. Even Bobby seemed to pity him, but the disdain was still there beneath it.

“So what’s your power?” Ray asked in a rather bored tone. Neil blushed, all his nervousness returned with that one comment.

All the adults in the room stiffened slightly, Neil started to shake slightly. He felt Hank’s hand tighten around his shoulder soothingly, is helped a little but Neil was still afraid of what would happen next. Charles continued slower and more succinctly, “I was getting to that. Neil is not a mutant.”

The reactions were instantaneous, but varied and not entirely what Neil had expected. Kitty was looking at him with an amused expression. In fact, it was the same amused expression she had had the whole time, though there was a gleam in her eyes that was previously absent. Kurt looked a little surprised but not greatly so. Roberto didn’t seem to care either way. Jamie was obviously shocked, as was Sam. Bobby, of course, had the same negative expression on his face. Ray looked at him with obvious mistrust and Amara seemed simply shocked.

Roberto was the first person to talk. “Welcome! Nice to have some new blood around here.” He walked over to Neil happily and shook his hand. Ray walked up to him next and extended his hand. Not wanting to seem rude, Neil took it. He immediately regretted it. Whereas Bobby’s hand had just been cold, Ray’s hand sent a rather unpleasant shock throughout his body. _Electrical powers… check._ The expression on Ray's face was a challenge. It said, “Mess with anyone and you mess with me.” He couldn't help but respect the other guy a little, even if he was scared of him. He also knew not to shake hands with him again, at least until he figured him out. But he also knew how to deal with electrical powers. Humans made bad lightning rods, so long as he stayed away from anything metallic he should be ok. Ray looked over at Charles with an annoyed but also slightly guilty expression. Neil guessed he was getting a mental talking too.

Neil was done with the introductions. He didn’t particularly want to sit here uncomfortably with all these people. He had never been too fond of large social settings and being the center of attention was never a big thing for him either. He walked over to Charles and whispered that into his ear. Neil was certain that this only made Bobby madder, but it was worth it to avoid telepathic contact. There was only one person who he had let contact his mind in a very long time, and he was dead. Charles nodded and addressed Bobby, “Well, now that introductions are in order, why don’t you show Neil to your room?”

Bobby got up, obviously angry but trying to be courteous. Neil thought likely to appease Charles. The other kids disbanded and went their own ways until he and Bobby were alone. Once they were in their room, Bobby turned to him. “What is the meaning of this?” He said forcefully, Neil watched terrified as the boy’s skin and clothing seemed to change to ice before his eyes. “I knew it! You’re scared of me aren’t you! Good be afraid! I don’t want you here and I know others don’t either. Stay out of my way if you don’t want to get iced!” Bobby stormed out of the room after he said that. Neil walked over to his bed, quivering in fear at Bobby’s threat. He wouldn’t would he? Neil couldn’t be sure. He honestly didn’t think anyone here would purposely seriously hurt him, but the fact that Bobby was willing to make that threat pointed out that he wasn’t wanted. He was going to have to talk to Charles about this. He definitely wanted out if this is what he had to look forward to.

**Meanwhile**

Charles looked at the adult X-Men thinking. Charles had been surprised, that had gone better than he had expected. Ray and Bobby hadn’t taken it well, but he had expected a bit more animosity from more of the students. He still wasn’t sure what to do about Bobby. He might have to move the rooms around a bit. The problem was that Sam and Jamie had reasons to room alone and Ray and Bobby would destroy the mansion or each other if they were together constantly. Moving Neil to live with Ray would have the same problem as keeping him with Bobby and all the other X-Men were either female or had their privacy to consider.

“That went as well as one could have expected.” Hank said, “Although I do hope that Bobby doesn’t freeze the poor boy. He seemed uncharacteristically angry and agitated.”

Charles had been reading Bobby and he had an idea why he was having such a negative reaction to this. “Bobby may seem happy here Hank, but I think his sense of humor as well as his tendency to act out and jump into things without thinking is a result of his home life which isn’t particularly great. His parents weren’t exactly the most forthcoming when they found out he was a mutant and his brother hasn’t spoken to him since. The humans in his personal life here haven’t been much better to him. And now I am basically telling him that he has to live with one. He is probably thinking Neil will treat him just like his family does, like a freak.”

“That makes sense, although given that maybe you should give Neil a new roommate? Bobby clearly isn’t the best choice at this moment in his life.”

Logan huffed, “I say leave em together. Bobby may be angry but you all know he wouldn’t do anything that bad to him. He is going to have to get over his thing with his family eventually. I say better now than later. Besides, Neil was acting rather sheepish. Hopefully having to live with him will toughen him up a bit. Oh and Charles don’t expect me to not include him in training just because he’s not a mutant. You know as well as I do that that don’t mean nothing to nobody in this room. You start giving him special treatment and I’ll be the first person to complain!” Logan then left, leaving the others staring at him. He didn’t usually talk that much unless he had something incredibly important to say.

Ororo sighed, “It has been so long since he has been so young. I don’t think he remembers what it is like to be their age. Problems like that rarely work themselves out so easily. But Charles, he does have a point. We cannot expect Neil to live here as if he were living a normal life. He will have to be trained, for his own safety if nothing else.”

Charles nodded, “Yes I know. I will speak to him tonight if he does not come to me first and come to a decision about whether he should stay here or not. I have hope that he will, as it seemed the response to him was largely positive.”

Hank looked more grim, “The negative response was more vocal however and Ray and Bobby are two of the most powerful and dangerous mutants here. Although Bobby is unlikely to do more than threaten him, the same is not obviously true of Ray. We will certainly need to be careful and so will he.”

“I know. My hope is that Logan is right and Bobby and Neil can patch up whatever is between them. If not then I may have to rethink this entire thing. It would not be fair to either of them to leave them in such a predicament.” Charles knew this was dubious at best. He was still fairly certain that this could work out for the better given the right push. But that would require precision on everyone’s part as the smallest error could spell disaster for the children under his care.

**Meanwhile**

Jamie watched as Bobby slammed the door to his room. He glared at the boy as he passed. Bobby hadn’t even bothered to cool down. He still looked like living ice. Jamie hadn’t known what to think about Neil. At first he didn’t like him, he was older and the other mutants were already warming up to him in a way that Jamie could only wish they would warm up to him. Even though he had seniority over him, he was certain that do to their ages that the new recruit would still be taken more seriously than he was. The realization that Neil wasn’t a mutant shocked him to the core. It forced him to reconsider his entire impression of the boy. He couldn’t come up with anything based on what he knew filling him with an insatiable curiosity. Besides, from the responses from Bobby and Ray, Neil could probably use a friend. Jamie needed a friend too, someone who didn’t just see him as a little kid. It sounded selfish even to him, but he wanted too get to Neil before someone else did and make sure he didn’t start avoiding him on principle like many of the older students did.

He knocked on the door sheepishly. A hesitant “come in” sounded from the other side. Neil’s voice sounded shaky, Jamie wasn’t certain he wanted to talk to him then. If Neil was in a bad mood then he might make him dislike him and he didn’t want that. Better to have him neutral than pissed off. But he had said come in, and Jamie’s curiosity outweighed his worry so he entered Neil’s room.

The room looked essentially like his room except that it was a little bigger and had two beds. There was stuff littered about, mostly clothes and random computer cables. Neil was sitting on his bed looking at Jamie with an odd expression.

“Oh, I was wondering who was knocking.” He said in a fake casual tone, although even if it had sounded genuine the shiver in the older boy gave away his distress.

“Yeah, I was wondering how you were doing. I know how hard it can be around here when you don’t know anybody, especially when you’re different from everyone else.” Jamie looked down, he wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to say. He may be younger than everyone else and have a less useful power but he was still a mutant.

“Huh? Why are you so down?” Jamie looked up. Neil looked a lot more relaxed although he didn’t exactly look happy.

“I don’t want to bother you with my problems.” Jamie said. He didn’t want Neil to think he was a kid. Part of being an adult was solving one’s own problems wasn’t it? That was what his father had always told him before he threw him out of the house for being a mutant. It was what his father claimed was the most important lesson he’d ever teach him.

“It’s no bother, besides it would be nice to just have someone to talk to and I hate to see people so down.” Jamie looked at Neil again closely. He seemed genuinely interested, although he was still a bit guarded. Then again after seeing Bobby rush out of the room iced up and angrier than the Scarlet Witch, he wasn’t exactly surprised. Still, he was supposed to solve his problems himself…wasn’t he?

“I don’t want to bother you. I’ll go.” Jamie started to leave, he knew that Neil thought of him as a kid, why else would he want to hear his problems. He felt a tear come to his eye, but he wouldn’t let himself cry. He was turning fourteen and starting high school this year if he could somehow get his powers under control. He was becoming a man and men didn’t cry.

He felt a hand grab his shoulder. He pulled harder to get away, the hand gripped him harder and he froze. “Wait!” Neil’s voice rang out. Jamie felt like a fool, now he was going to get it. He knew what this meant. It was times like this that he was reminded that for all practical purposes he was still a kid. Everyone here was still bigger than he was and could still push him around. “What are you running off for? Didn’t you want to talk to me about something? I could hardly guess what though, since we don’t even know each other.” Jamie realized that Neil hadn’t pulled him, forced him to do anything. Could he really just want to talk? No one at the institute had ever really wanted to talk to him. There were his sessions with Charles where he was treated like he needed a shrink and the obligatory interactions one always had with those they live with. But someone actually wanting to talk to him was a new experience.

“I just wanted to see how you were doing.” Jamie said, guarded. Neil looked guarded too, but there was a look of compassion on his face, one that Jamie hadn’t seen on anyone except Professor Xavier and Mr. McCoy.

“Okay, so why the whole bit about problems? I would much rather talk about something more interesting right now. Like what your power is.” Neil smiled as he said this.

“You won’t be so interested once you hear what it is. It is such a pointless power!” He hated this part. He knew that as soon as he told him what his power was he was going to laugh like everyone else. Being a human would be greatly preferable to having his power. At least the others could show off with theirs. What could he do? Be more in the way than he already was?

“Huh? Pointless power… I can’t imagine a truly pointless power. Maybe if it was to automatically clean windows…but even that would have some use.” Jamie laughed at Neil’s ponderings, mostly because they obviously weren’t entirely a joke. Jamie did suspect however that washing windows would be more useful than making clones of himself.

“You don’t know what my power is.” He was still hesitant to tell him, he would find out eventually anyway but he hoped to befriend him first so that he was less likely to laugh at him for his useless power.

“Well then tell me? If it is that pointless, then we have something in common. I don’t have a power and any power is more pointful than that.”

Jamie was about to respond with another cop out when he saw the grin on Neil’s face. “Ok, ok, my power is to make copies of myself! You happy?” He then demonstrated by making a duplicate. He waited for the laughing. What he got was totally unexpected.

“Those clothes aren’t a part of you right?” He looked at Neil, what was he talking about of course they weren’t?

“No, I’m no shapeshifter…” He was perplexed now, he still expected Neil to agree with him. His power was so pointless and he should know after all it was his power.

“Then you can make duplicates of yourself and anything touching you? That is so awesome!”

Jamie stared at him in shock. “What do you mean? How is that so awesome when there are people here to can freeze things and read minds? All I can be in the way even more than I already am.” He looked down.

“What are you talking about? Reading minds is a dangerous power, it gives a person way more control and responsibility than is right for a person to have. As for freezing things…what is that really useful for? True it is more useful than blowing things up but your power beats out every power I have seen! And believe me I have seen more than a few. Think about it! You can spot yourself while working out. You can fix a truck or change a ceiling light bulb on your own. You can clean an entire house without any help.” Neil was extremely excited, Jamie couldn’t understand why.

“So I can be a glorified butler? What is so special about all of that? The other people here can really kick some ass!” Jamie longed to have Bobby’s power or Ray’s. They could take on almost anybody.

“Yeah, but what else can they do? Realistically how often are they going to need to beat the crap out of someone? Your power is useful everyday and in a lot more instances. Believe me, of all the powers I have ever seen aside of possibly teleportation, I would definitely want yours. I mean you can copy objects as well! Have you ever stopped to consider what that could mean?” Honestly he hadn’t because it was just natural to him. If he was wearing clothes or holding a pencil his clones would be holding them too. It had always been that way.

“Can your clones drop the objects they have or do they have to keep holding them?” Jamie still wasn’t entirely sure why Neil was so excited. But he not only didn’t think his power was useless, he thought it was awesome so he wasn’t about to tell him otherwise. Besides he was beginning to see why Neil thought his powers were so cool. Why hadn’t he thought about this before?

“I have no idea.” He responded truthfully.

“Then let’s find out! Do you have a pencil or something in your pocket?” Jamie shook his head. He generally didn’t keep things on him in the mansion. He was scared that one of the older kids would take it from him and taunt him with it as they had on a few occasions. “Okay then…” Neil’s eyes furrowed in thought, “…have your clone take off its shirt and hand it to me.” Jamie stared at Neil. Take off his shirt? Neil rolled his eyes, “What are you staring at me like that for. We’re both guys, it’s not like you have anything I don’t have. Besides it’s not like I asked you to drop your pants or something. All were doing is seeing if it disappears.” With a sigh he complied. The shirt didn’t disappear.

“Whoa!” Jamie had actually expected the shirt to go away as soon as it left his clone, “it’s still there! I kinda expected it to disappear.”

“And you aren’t concentrating on keeping the object intact right?” Jamie shook his head, still surprised at this revelation about his powers. “Make the clone disappear!” Neil suddenly said excitedly, and Jamie complied. The shirt immediately disappeared as soon as the clone that had been wearing it was gone too. “So the objects aren’t permanent. Oh well, that is still awesome!”

Jamie thought about it for a second. So he could make clones of objects too? That was really cool. He had never tried giving up an object a clone had. He rarely kept anything on him aside of his clothing anyway, so it really never came up. “Thanks Neil,” he said. His good mood immediately died. He had sounded like a little kid. He was ashamed and embarrassed.

Neil frowned, “Why the long face? If I were you I would be ecstatic right now? I mean, you will probably be able to clone just objects if you work at it. Its powers like yours that somewhat make me envious of mutants.” Despite his words, Neil’s smile made it obvious that it was a good sort of envy if that was possible.

Jamie kicked the floor, he felt more comfortable telling Neil about his problems now. He wasn’t sure why, after all the more he told, the more he was admitting to him that he was in fact a kid. But he didn’t care, he had to tell someone. “I just feel so small! I mean look at you! Lower voice, taller, everything. You are so much more of an adult than me… I feel like a little kid.”

Neil looked at him appraisingly, “That’s what’s bothering you, our maturity differences? I’m sixteen and you can’t be more than fourteen. I’ve got a few years on you yet. Don’t worry, you’ll grow, your voice will change. And even if it doesn’t it doesn’t really matter.”

“You don’t understand! I have been waiting for this to happen forever! My brother was almost your height by the time he was my age! I feel so small.” Jamie looked at the floor again.

“Actually, funnily enough I do understand. I have always been short for my age. While I may seem tall to you, compare me to even the other students here that are my age and I’m no longer tall at all. You will probably be taller than I am now when you’re sixteen if you haven’t had many growth spurts yet. You also might have noticed that I have a distinct lack of facial hair… or any hair at all really. Other than being slightly taller than you I probably look just as much like a little kid as you do. So don’t worry, it’ll happen. Now your brother’s height is a freak of nature! And they call mutants weird.”

Jamie laughed, he found himself really liking Neil. He was a bit older but he didn’t make him feel like a kid. Even when they were discussing age he hadn’t been condescending, only frank. Then he thought about what Neil had said. “No hair?” He asked curiously.

Neil’s face softened a bit into something less than happy and Jamie was about to apologize when he removed his cap. Jamie stared, Neil was completely bald. “I have no hair at all, anywhere on my body and I will never grow any.” He said solemnly but then he shook his head and smiled as if nothing had happened before putting on his cap. “But lets not talk about that.” Jamie nodded, it was clear that his lack of hair was not something he wanted to discuss and so they both started talking about more mundane and fun things.

Neil was surprised with Jamie as he hadn’t expected the boy to be so cool. He understood the need to be taken seriously from his own experiences with his parents and his brother. It seemed like most of the people here didn’t take him that seriously either or at least that was his perception. He had a hunch that there was more to Jamie’s feelings than just what happened to him at the institute. He was probably right that some students didn’t take him seriously, but he was certain the adults did. They were probably a bit overly protective, which is probably where the feelings of being treated like a kid came in, but he was certain that at least Charles realized what he was capable of. That was the other thing, heaven forbid if Jamie ever went rogue. He would be a force to be reckoned with, especially after he got a bit older and his mutant powers solidified themselves. Still it seemed that their treating him like a kid was having that effect anyway. It was obvious that Jamie didn’t feel very confident here. Neil would have to rectify that. Besides, Jamie was the first person here to really take him seriously aside of Charles and Ororo. Jamie was a good kid, he deserved a friend, and Neil could use a friend too. Despite his problems he really didn’t want to leave here. At least here he knew he had a future, he had something resembling stability as well. Who knew what would happen if he left? Charles was a great guy but even he couldn’t solve everything.

“I got nothing to do. Wanna hang out?” Neil asked with a smile on his face.

“Yeah, you like checkers?” Jamie asked.

Neil smirked, _Checkers? Why not? After all it isn’t hard._ “Ok, you’re on!”

The rest of the day went rather smoothly, or as smoothly as one could expect such a first day to go. Neil had spent the next hour or so playing checkers with Jamie. After that Kitty showed up with every which question one could ever ask a person, or so it seemed. Roberto walked in part way through it and so Neil ended up telling the three of them a lot of things about himself. Most of it was little things like what he liked to do and what not, thankfully his lack of hair was not mentioned. The one question he was embarrassed to answer was when Kitty asked him if he was involved. He simply answered no, but not without blushing causing Kitty and Roberto to laugh. Jamie had a look of pity on his face, either that or confusion. Given Jamie’s age, Neil couldn’t tell, he didn’t know how far Jamie’s development had gone.

Sam had cornered him as he left the room looking for something to eat, and they had talked a bit. He found out that Sam wasn’t so comfortable here, that he didn’t know how to act around some people and that sometimes he was just depressed for little reason and happy the next. Neil got the impression that he really did like it here just had low self esteem. He didn’t know what he could do though so he just listened. Sam was called by Bobby. Apparently they were going to play a game or something. It was obvious from Bobby’s expression that he wasn’t invited so he just got some juice and waved by to Sam casually. Sam waved as well, if he had a thought about his and Bobby’s interaction he didn’t show it.

At that point Neil had decided that he needed to have some alone time so he went to his room to see what was there. Surely they didn’t expect him to live here with just the one set of clothes he had been wearing for the last week? When Neil got to his room he noticed suitcases by his bed that he hadn’t noticed before because of the scare Bobby had given him and then Jamie’s subsequent interruption. He was surprised to find his old clothing inside as well as the majority of his movable stuff. He had assumed that they were all destroyed in the attack, to find that he hadn’t lost quite as much as he thought relieved him a bit. That is until he thought about what he had lost.

He sighed and spent the remainder of the day flipping through old books he had read a lot of times while thinking. He knew once he had really thought about it that he couldn’t have been the only survivor. If nothing else Juliana who was a teleporter probably survived and probably took a few others with her. There were also the underground training facilities which may have been a safe place. If nothing else there were enough people living there that even simple statistics stated that some should have escaped through sheer luck. This didn’t exactly help his situation as he had no way of knowing who had escaped or where they went but he at least felt a little better about it. After all, he had gotten out so it was possible. He then let his mind wander to more pleasant thoughts as he tended to when something was bothering him where it remained until he left his room for dinner.

Dinner had been pretty uneventful, although that could have been the lack of conversation. It wasn’t that the table was silent; rather that Neil was lost in his own thoughts and didn’t really take notice to what was said. He didn’t talk to anybody and as far as he could tell no one talked to him. He waved at Jamie, Kitty and Roberto and nodded at Sam but that was pretty much the extent of his social graces that evening. Bobby ignored him throughout dinner and the entire rest of the evening which Neil spent in their room reading. It wasn’t until he was about to go to sleep that he and Bobby had another interaction, though confrontation was probably a better word.

Neil had changed into his night clothes in a nearby bathroom and Bobby was there when he returned. “Going to sleep already? Hah! How old are you anyway? You sure you shouldn’t room with the kid? You don’t seem like you’re my age. You don’t even have any stubble.”

That was the first time anyone other than Neil himself had mentioned his obvious lack of hair and he found it disconcerting. With Jamie, revealing his baldness hadn’t seemed like a big issue. After all, they were connecting rather well and Jamie had shown and told him things that could be considered rather personal. Now Bobby was a different story, and yet he didn’t want to sleep in his cap. He sometimes moved a bit in his sleep and he had found that he could manage to get his cap into rather uncomfortable positions the few times he fell asleep while wearing it. _Ah to hell with it! They’ll all find out eventually!_ He thought before he took off his cap. He didn’t look at Bobby again and instead he simply got into his bed. He didn’t want Bobby to see that he was scared of him. Scared of what he might say or do as a result of his baldness as he knew that Bobby didn’t like him. But he had a long day and in the end it was his tiredness that won out.

**Meanwhile**

Charles was going to talk to Neil, but he saw him getting along. He decided to wait, with the positive input from Jamie and Kitty his transition was being a bit more even. He would let Neil decide when to come to him, if at all. If he didn’t, then that was all the better. If Neil just slipped into the family at the institute then that was best. He knew it wouldn’t be that simple of course, but the boy was fitting in better than Charles had expected. He had even befriended Jamie, whom he had been more and more worried about in the recent months. He smiled, maybe things would go right. But at the moment there was a more pressing concern, though it was related.

Amara wasn’t sure why Charles had wanted to speak with her. While she was relatively sure that it was related to the new boy, she wasn’t sure why she was being singled out. Ray hadn’t been called into a private talk and his reaction was much more negative than hers. As it stood she was mostly skeptical about his reaction to them. Despite what Charles had sad about him growing up around mutants, he was obviously greatly nervous around them and given her more recent interactions with humans, she erred on the side of caution, “You wanted to speak to me?” She asked in her typical polite fashion as she entered his office.

“Yes I did. Please sit down.” Amara quickly sat down in the chair on the other side of his desk and waited. “I have a few concerns that must be addressed that specifically affect you.”

Amara looked at him curiously, “Concerns that affect me?” She asked, not sure whether to be worried or not.

Charles nodded, “You are in a unique position. Neil is unaware of your powers and though it is impossible for him to remain unaware of them for long I must caution you about using them in his presence.”

Amara’s curiosity deepened. “Why is that?” She asked.

Charles thought for a second. “Neil is terrified of mutant powers which utilize fire. I do not feel it is my place to tell you any major details, I believe he will tell all of you that when he is ready. The important thing is that you should not direct your powers at him in any fashion. In fact it would probably be better if you didn’t use them around him at all but that is unrealistic and somewhat unfair to you.”

Amara nodded, she would be careful. She didn't want to scare the boy. Aside of her skepticism, she was actually hoping he would be a nice guy. “I understand. May I leave?” Charles nodded and so she stood up and walked to her room.

**The Next Morning**

Neil woke up with a shock. His crotch was freezing cold. He ignored the fact that he was wearing only his boxers. He ignored the wicked grin on his roommate’s face. In fact, he wasn’t even aware he had a roommate at all. The only thing on his mind was the ice cold feeling between his legs and how he could get rid of it. Loosely remembering that there was a bathroom almost directly across the hall from their room, he charged there, not even thinking to knock. He ran to the sink turned on the warm water, not even taking the time to realize that it was already hot, pulled down his boxers and warmed himself up.

“Hello, I’m kind of taking a shower here.” He recognized Scott’s voice and he felt the blood drain away form his face. He turned around in his shock to see the young man standing there naked facing him, his eyes clamped shut. He did not look happy at all.

“Um… I’m sorry, um uh… I woke up and my nuts were freezing so I…” His story sounded stupid to him even as he said it. He found himself staring. He didn’t know why Scott had his eyes clamped shut but he was glad, at least he hadn’t caught him staring, that would have been horrible.

To his surprise Scott snickered, “Neil? Oh, so Bobby did a number on you huh? That’s okay. I know you’re not used to living with this many people. Next time knock okay? I usually leave the door unlocked so other people can use the rest room.”

Neil nodded dumbly before he realized that Scott still had his eye’s shut. “Ok… sorry…” It took Scott telling him to leave again before his feet started working again and he ran out of the bathroom, his face still white as bleached paper.

Neil could have hit himself. Bobby was going to get it! That was one of the most embarrassing things that had ever happened to him. He was almost revealed and in a most embarrassing way at that. As it was, Scott probably suspected something. If Neil was lucky he would laugh it off as shock, but he got the impression that Scott was smarter than that. He didn’t know what he could do though and he was more afraid now of what Bobby would do to him than before. He knew now that Bobby was willing to use his power on him. This time it had been a prank, a mean prank but he was feeling himself again and there didn’t seem to be any permanent harm as far as he could tell. But would he be so lucky next time? He wasn’t sure.

When he went back into the room Bobby was laughing at him. “Scott is going to kill you for interrupting his precious morning shower.” Bobby said through his laughter. Neil was certain that that wasn’t a major exaggeration from the expression on Scott’s face. He was certain it was only his newness to the institute as well as his embarrassing situation that had saved him from an otherwise horrible fate. _Well… maybe no horrible, but at the very least unpleasant._ Still, he really wanted to get Bobby back. It was Bobby’s fault that he had run in there in the first place. He had been lucky it wasn’t one of the girls or worse, Ray. He would have to think of something brilliant to avoid the icy mutant’s wrath. He would think about it later. Right now he wanted some breakfast.

When he found the kitchen again after wandering around the house for a while not quite sure where he was, he found that most everyone was there. He blushed and stiffened when Scott waved at him, but relaxed when he offered him the seat next to him. _Well, at least I didn’t screw things up with him._

Logan was the first to speak to him. “You better hurry up. We are going to enroll you in school and I want to get it done as soon as possible.” Huh? But school didn’t start for a few months now. And he wasn’t even sure he would still be here is a few months. Still, Logan was not a person to mess with. If he wanted to get this done today, Neil was not going to argue with him. So as soon as Neil finished breakfast, they left.

The trip to the school was largely silent. Neil spent his time breathing in the summer air from the topless Jeep. He was happy to be able to see the town, even if it was only in passing. He thought he could like it here. He still had mixed feelings. Some people really liked him, like Kitty, Roberto and Jamie and most of them seemed rather neutral. Only a few of them disliked him and though that scared him a bit, the idea that he might end up lost in a foster care system with nothing resembling a real future scared him even more.

The town seemed like a rather standard suburban town. It had a few things that most suburbs didn’t have like its own airport, but it was hardly a city. It was certainly bigger and more lively then his former home. His former home was rather boring actually, which meant that the kids got rather restless and spent most of their time in mini wars with each other over who had the best powers. Neil and the few other human kids there had been caught in these time and time again and given that he didn’t have a power, it was consistently not fun. He was greatly aware of many different varied powers as a result, so he didn’t consider it a total loss.

Bayville high was a rather standard high school. They parked on the street in front of the building, which was rather old looking. The inside looked pretty much like what Neil’s old school had looked like. True the building was laid out differently but the feel was still very similar. Most of the halls were lined with lockers, the stairs were on either end of each building and the bathrooms were usually near each other in random places around the halls. The rooms were clearly labeled and Neil thought that getting lost in the halls was not going to be a serious problem at this school.

Other than the principle’s office and a random Janitor the school seemed empty of people, giving it a peaceful feel. Neil was certain that it wouldn’t be nearly as peaceful during the school year. Then there would be the rivalries and gossip that he knew was a major part of adolescent life. But for now it was empty and calm.

The principle’s office was the exact opposite. The room was actually pretty decent as far as offices went, however the man in the room, one Edward Kelly, had taken one look at Logan and then looked at Neil with a look of pure disdain. “I take it you want to register this boy as a freshman?” He said, his tone said it all. You are not welcome here.

Neil spoke as he was used to people assuming he was younger than he was. “Actually, I’m enrolling as a junior. I’m 16.”

Kelly looked surprised at that until Logan handed him a file, “I see, junior it is than.” He was obviously less than thrilled, although Neil had a fine record of mostly A’s and B’s. “Why you must send all of them here I have no idea. Aren’t you supposed to be a scholastic institute? Shouldn’t you people take your classes there?” He was talking more at them than to them. While he was intimidated by the students at the institute, almost none of the adults in his life had ever intimidated him, Mutant or not, and Kelly’s attitude was pissing him off.

“I am not a mutant.” He said clearly and with a stern slightly annoyed tone.

Kelly did a total about face and his look of anger turned into a look of pity. “Oh, I am sorry. I will do my best to get you out of there then.” Kelly obviously totally missed why he was angry. He assumed it was because he had called him a mutant, this pissed Neil off even more. Yeah he wasn’t exactly in the best of situations, but that was hardly because he had a problem living with mutants.

“I do not need your help.” Neil said, with the same stern expression, “All I need is to get enrolled in school, I will kindly ask you to remain outside of my personal affairs thank you!” Kelly grumbled something that Neil couldn’t quite make out. However he was certain that it wasn’t a positive remark at all. For the rest of the short time they were there, tension built and by the time they were done Neil was more than ready to split. Upon signing the last form Neil was ready to go, “Is that it?” He asked, clearly wanting to leave.

“Yes, that is it.” Kelly annunciated each word, clearly challenging them both.

“Logan let’s go!” Neil said before getting up and angrily leaving the room.

Logan was actually incredibly impressed with the boy. His initial impression from the way he was acting around them was one of a nervous wreck who would bow down to the anything and anyone who was bigger than him. He wasn’t very large and his face was smooth, and blemish free. His total lack of hair only increased his youthful look especially since he wore a hat to cover his baldness. Most people wouldn’t know that his lack of hair was an abnormality and not simply a matter of him being young thus judging his true age from simply looking at him would be next to impossible. Logan of course knew that he was a lot older than the tall twelve or thirteen year old that appeared before him. Despite his look he had the unmistakable smell of a male in the grips of adolescence.

His demeanor with principle Kelly was totally different than the one he had the previous day at the institute and showed strength that remained unseen before. Logan wasn’t certain where it came from but it was too powerful to simply be nervous anger. The fact that he was now still stalking angrily and not a nervous wreck again seemed to facilitate this idea.

“That guy really pisses me off! First he just about throws me out of school before I am even enrolled just because he thinks I’m a mutant and then when I tell him otherwise he is suddenly my guardian angel trying to save the poor human!” Neil looked at him and then seemed to realize who he was talking to, his eyes widened. “I mean…”

Logan laughed inwardly, the kid was intimidated by him, but he had seen a spark of defiance in him. Maybe he could use that. If nothing else he might have found someone who might actually take training seriously. Only time would tell. “Actually I agree.” He responded coolly.

Neil seemed to relax at that. “But he does have a point though. As much as I’d like to, I don’t think I really can live with you guys.” Logan was curious as to Neil’s reasoning. Although he would have been the first to agree with him a day ago, he wasn’t so certain of that now. He just listened. Neil continued seeming oblivious to Logan’s curiosity, “From your specialized vehicles and you’re specialized training uniforms not to mention some of the stories I heard from Jamie, Kitty and Roberto, this isn’t a simple training facility. You guys seem to have a tendency to get into trouble, often of the mutant variety. I don’t see how I could really help in such a situation. True I suppose I could just stay around the house cleaning up if you guys went off on a mission. But if the institute was ever under attack, I would be a liability that others would have to protect. I don’t want that.”

Logan heard the underlying wish. Neil didn’t want to leave, nor did he want to sit around uselessly while the rest of them went on missions and such. He wanted to be a real part of the institute. He just didn’t see how he could be. Logan wasn’t sure if he was capable, but he would need a certain determination that Logan admired in order to pull it off. The kind of determination that allowed him to witness his family dying and yet still stand up to his future principle for what he believed in. If he really had the determination that Logan could see bits and pieces of, then he would be more help to the team than he could possible know. Logan just had beat whatever determination was hidden in there out of its shell. “Is that it? You’re worried about getting in the way? I’ll have you know that some of our most dangerous opponents have been humans like yourself.”

Neil wasn’t surprised. He knew there were people out there that were quite impressive without a super power among them. Unfortunately he was not one of them. “Yeah, I know. But I’m small, and not very strong. Not to mention I have almost no fighting skill whatsoever. I honestly spent most of my youth avoiding fights. Getting into fights with mutants as an already small human kid wasn’t very good for my health.”

Logan saw the hidden question, despite what many people thought, he wasn’t imperceptive of people’s wishes. He simply didn’t really care most of the time. But here he saw the hidden wish, and it was something he could respect, “Well, the way I see it you have two options. Leave, and give up. Or stay and learn how to fight like the rest of them.” He knew Neil wanted the latter.

Neil looked at him somewhat surprised. “What I saw of the training was rather power based. I don’t see what I could get out of that?”

“Nothing kid. But you really think that is the only thing we got?” Logan looked at him, Neil seemed to understand.

“Are you offering to train me?” Neil asked him, no hesitation, only a little nervousness. Logan could deal with that, he would have to push the boy that much harder but if he got through it he would be better for it. The rest of the kids there were getting on his nerves with their constant complaining. Neil was at least some new blood.

“Yeah, but you gotta give it your all kid. I don’t run a babysitting service. You’re a man and you’ll train like one.”

Neil obviously tensed at that but got a look of extreme fervor. “Yes sir!” He said with the very determination that Logan saw in Kelly’s office. Yeah he was obviously nervous, but he was fighting it. Logan smiled for a fraction of a second before opening the door to the jeep. This could work out after all.

Neil noticed Logan’s small smile but didn’t say anything, he had also noticed Logan’s earlier curiosity. He just didn’t see it mattering that much.

Logan had surprised him by started his training immediately when they got back. The rest of the recruits were doing danger room drills with Storm, whatever those were, leaving them plenty of time to train.

Neil almost regretted his decision. They had been working for over three hours and he was totally exhausted. They had worked on exercises, fighting maneuvers, stretches, anything and everything that could be considered part of a workout and more. He had considered complaining multiple times. At first he didn’t complain because Logan intimidated him, then he didn’t complain because he really wanted to work out. Finally it became a matter of pride. Even if he didn’t have a mutant power he could still work his damned hardest and if Logan wanted him to work until he couldn’t stand anymore than that was what he would do. In fact that is exactly what he did do.

They were sparing and he was about to make a lunge at Logan when his legs gave way and he fell forward nearly hitting his nose on the ground. “Get up kid.” He heard Logan shout to him, Neil was so tired that it sounded distant instead of right next to his head. He started to move his arms, which felt more like weights than arms to him, to a push up position. He then started to push himself up. Logan kept telling him too get up. He wasn’t going to complain, he wasn’t going to give up. This was something he could do. He didn’t need to be a mutant to do this. It was, not something he could do. His arms gave way and he fell onto the ground again. He tried to move them again but he couldn’t get them to do anything but twitch. “Come on.” Logan’s face appeared in front of his, Neil felt ashamed, he tried and tried but he couldn’t get his arms to move. He tried his legs. They were more movable but not nearly enough to get him on his feet again. To Neil’s shock Logan smiled, a real smile that wasn’t a smirk. He had been certain that Logan was incapable of smiling for more than a second, that his muscles just didn’t have that capability.

“Come on kid. Ya did good.” Logan said, picking Neil up and putting him on his feet. Neil was still exhausted and found himself leaning against Logan for support. “Can ya walk?” Logan asked.

“I’m not sure.” Neil responded truthfully, he had half a mind to say no, but he wanted to look good in front of Logan. For some reason that was beyond him, Logan seemed to respect him and he wanted to keep that respect, even if it meant this near torture. He quickly found that his original assessment, if it could be called that in his totally exhausted state, was correct. As soon as he took a step his leg gave way and he found himself leaning against Logan’s arm again. Logan had caught him as he fell. “I guess not.” Logan helped him limp slowly back towards the building.

Ray was headed down the stairs when he saw Logan supporting an obviously exhausted Neil through the front foyer of the institute. This greatly annoyed him. Logan never helped any of the other recruits even if they were dead tired. They had to limp their way back into the house on their own. He thought if anyone were going to treat him the same Logan would. “So what's the deal? You never help us in after training.” He asked irritatedly.

Logan responded in a manner that Ray had not expected. He simply dropped Neil, who fell to the floor with a thump and an almost imperceptible grunt. Ray watched bewildered as Neil slowly moved his arms, pushing himself onto his knees. He had almost gotten a foot flat on the floor when he passed out. Just like that. He almost hit the floor but he stopped mid fall. Jean was walking down the stairs. “That’s why! The day you work yourself until you literally can’t stand without a yelp is the day I help you up. Neil may not be a mutant but he’s got more guts than the lot of ya!” With that Logan looked at Neil’s body, which was now floating a good yard above the ground and left for the kitchen. Jean levitated him up the stairs presumably towards his room.

This pissed Ray off. Logan had just said that Neil was better than they were? He had been working with Logan for months and he had rarely complained. And he HAD worked until he could barely stand. Now this new kid comes in and in less than two days manages to get on Logan’s good side? That was just wrong. He looked at Bobby for support. Bobby looked at Logan and the stairs with disdain, and then surprised Ray by looking at him with the same look. Bobby then shook his head before leaving the foyer to the grounds. Ray needed to blast something. He headed outside towards one of the courtyard training gauntlets.

Bobby couldn’t stand Neil. He also couldn’t understand why Logan thought he had guts. From everything that Bobby had seen of him he was a nervous coward. But he also saw what Ray apparently didn’t. As hard on them as Logan was, he wouldn’t leave any of them at some random place on the grounds so exhausted that they couldn’t move. Neil was clearly not capable of doing much of anything, he was more exhausted then he had ever seen anyone after working with Logan. He understood why Logan was supporting him, it was either that or leave him to pass out and he was certain that as hard as Logan was, he wasn’t that insane. If Neil’s exhaustion hadn’t been clear before, it had to be clear when he passed out.

Bobby may not have liked Neil very much but at least he could see! Ray was obviously getting more and more restless as the peaceful days since Apocalypse had gone, and he was itching for a fight. Neil was a poor target though. Even if Bobby was angry, he still had his morals. He would mess with him yes. Even inconvenience him to get him to want to leave. But attacking the boy was out of the question. Not only would the professor, Hank and Ororo kill him, but he would hardly get anything out of freezing an innocent, powerless boy. No matter how annoying he was. He was still pissed though, Neil had shown them up and for that he had to pay. He needed to find Amara or Roberto. She might help him and Roberto was always good for a prank. Especially against the unassuming. And Neil definitely seemed unassuming. The guy was pretty much one of the lamest people Bobby had ever met.

Amara was sitting with Kitty ogling guys in a workout magazine with Kurt staring at the wall with a bored expression rolling his eyes at the girls’ shenanigans. “Honestly, what iz zo great about them? Zo many muscles zat zey can barely move?”

Kitty rolled her eyes back, “You boys will, like, never understand!” She said. Amara laughed and Kurt rolled his eyes again.

“Hey, Amara? Can we talk for a sec?” Bobby asked. She nodded and followed him anyway. Kurt and Kitty just looked blankly before they started joking around about how much muscle was too much, Kurt was insisting that movement was good and Kitty was insisting that it didn’t matter, that more was better. Bobby had to agree with Kurt, although he found it hard to believe that anyone as smart as Kitty could really think that.

“What do you want?” Amara asked, clearly wanting to go back to the magazine.

“I know you don’t like Neil and I was thinking you might want to help me get rid of him?” Amara looked shocked, “Not like that!” Bobby said, understanding what she thought he meant, “I meant making him miserable so he’ll want to leave. He doesn’t belong here, we both know that.”

Amara looked bored with his comment. “Why do you care so much? So he’s here? It’s no big deal.”

“I thought you didn’t like him?”

She shrugged, “I never said that. I am just skeptical about him.”

“That’s easy for you to say, YOU don’t have to live with him!” Bobby said, clearly irritated with the whole situation.

Amara rolled her eyes at him, “Oh grow up! It’s not that bad. You act like he’s part of the mutant hate brigade or something. He is a kid who lost his way. Besides, he seems nice enough.” She was clearly annoyed at something though, Bobby couldn't tell what it was.

“Yeah but if he doesn’t leave then I’ll be stuck with a human roommate forever!” Bobby yelled his real concern, he knew how humans acted. So what if Neil grew up around mutants? His nervousness made his feelings about them incredibly clear.

Amara rolled her eyes again and headed back to where Kitty was now chasing Kurt around the room. Kurt was holding the magazine and Kitty was angrily trying to get it back. Amara rolled her eyes again at their antics, but joined in anyway. Bobby sighed. He really thought she would help him. Maybe he should just freeze Neil’s balls every morning? No, that gave him chills just thinking about it. Once was proving a point, more times was a bit meaner than even he was willing to go. He didn’t want to permanently damage the boy. Only inconvenience him until he wanted nothing better than to leave.

He thought about this as he went up to his room, Neil was unconscious on his bed. Bobby grumbled before heading out again. It was still light out after all. He didn’t know what he should do so he just wandered around for the afternoon, thinking about how he could ruin Neil’s day.

**The Next Morning**

Neil woke up with a major back ache. As well as arm aches, leg aches…when he thought about it there wasn’t a muscle in his body that DIDN’T ache. He looked at the clock, 6:00 in the morning. When did he pass out? Some time in mid afternoon, although he couldn’t quite remember. He remembered working out and then being incredibly exhausted. He remembered trying to get up after Logan dropped him and then he woke up. It was all kind of fuzzy. Despite his muscle aches he wasn’t really sleepy, so he decided rather than test his luck and accidentally wake up Bobby, he would go down and see if anyone else was up this early.

Getting through the building was a lot more effort than he would have ever thought. Each step seemed to reverberate though his body causing minute aches and pains in places he didn’t even know could hurt. Still, it would be more work to go back to his room and he was hungry. After a long arduous walk he reached the dining room, the dining room was empty so he walked into the kitchen. He wasn’t exactly surprised to see Ororo there, but seeing a lot of Jamie’s helping her out was somewhat or a shock. “Hey Neil, you ok?” One of the Jamies stopped to ask him. He would have to get used to this. He hadn’t quite expected Jamie’s power to be this extensive. He was only thirteen.

“Yeah, just achy that’s all.” Neil responded.

“Need any help?” Jamie asked.

Neil shook his head, “Naw, I’ll live, thanks for the offer though.” He then walked over to the kitchen table and sat down wearily. Jamie then brought him a glass of orange juice which he accepted gratefully. He watched as Ororo and Jamie made a huge breakfast. He never would have picked out Jamie as an early riser. He wasn’t just awake he was chipper. It was obvious that he wasn’t woken up to help with breakfast, it seemed he honestly liked being up early in the morning. Neil liked it too, but he was more of a seven or eight o’clock person. Six was just a bit too early for him most of the time.

He found himself tired again and so decided that after eating he would take a nap, probably for the rest of the day. He knew his sleeping schedule would be totally screwed up by this, but he figured it would be anyway until he started school again. He didn’t really talk throughout breakfast. Logan smiled at him for a second and Bobby and Ray gave him glares. Neil just ignored everybody as it was becoming harder and harder for him to stay awake. Soon he found himself back in his bed, falling into a nice peaceful slumber.

He woke up to someone shaking him. “Hey Neil,” Neil opened his eyes to see an excited Sam standing over him. “The prof. is letting Logan take us out to town. Wanna come?” Neil felt better, his muscles were a little stiff but he figured walking it off would do him good. It wasn’t as if he was doing anything that strenuous and he would like to see the place he was becoming more and more inclined to living at. He really didn’t want to leave, he was certain that what awaited him outside the walls would be just as hard as anything he’d encounter here. At least here he knew he was relatively safe. Charles, Hank, Logan and Ororo would see to that. He felt rather lucky as all the adults seemed to like him. It was amusing, he would have expected Scott to tolerate him and Jean to like him, but it seemed the other way around. Then again, he hadn’t had as personal an encounter with Jean as he had had the previous morning with Scott. It appeared that Scott found that endearing or something odd like that as since then he had been waving and smiling at him. Neil kind of liked that, it reminded him of his elder brother after he stopped being an ass.

The students were all gathered into the van that they had used to take him to the institute from the airport. All except Jamie who wasn’t allowed to go because his power was still too unstable. Neil thought it was more likely that the adults were trying to protect their youngest recruit. Neil thought they were being overbearing, Jamie wasn’t a little kid, and everyone here knew he was a mutant so his power going off wouldn’t be that bad. It wasn’t like he shot lasers, ice or fire… he shivered at the thought, bad thought… bad. He thought about naked Scott again. He didn’t want to use his encounter with Scott like this, but it was one of the few things that could distract him. He quickly shook both thoughts off and stared out the back window, watching the trees go by and ignoring the other passengers completely.

Even though they were supposed to stick together, Neil quickly managed to evade the other students and go off on his own. He wasn’t sure but he figured that the mutants here were only barely tolerated and not really liked. Although he wasn’t a mutant just being associated with them would give him a negative reputation so he figured that it would be safer for him to be alone rather than with the others. People might assume he was a mutant and treat him as such. People would find out soon enough anyway if he stayed and he saw no point in making that happen any faster.

He actually didn’t have much contact with anybody. He had perfected the art of blending in to the background so that didn’t exactly surprise him. Most of the people seemed to ignore him, if not they jut gave him an odd look but when he didn’t respond they at the most shrugged and continued with whatever they were doing. Eventually he found the edge of town and it seemed to taper off into a lightly wooded area. He enjoyed the woods. There had been light woods outside of his old community where he commonly went to be by himself, often before his parents let him. They had been mad of course and he had always been punished, but he had done it again anyway.

Now he was breaking the rules again. They hadn’t explicitly told him he couldn’t leave town, although that had been implied. They had told them to stick together, so it hardly mattered. As it stood, he was much happier alone in the woods where he didn’t have to worry about things like mutant human relations and the fact that he really had no family. He could just be who he was and no one would be the wiser.

**An Hour or So Later**

Neil was heading back to the city. He had totally lost track of time and he was certain that the others would start looking for him soon if they hadn’t started already. He knew he would likely get a lecture which he wasn’t looking forward too, but he was used to that so it was no big deal.

He was musing about this and what he thought the adults would do, Logan was the only one who worried him, when he was shoved by what sounded like wind but felt like a pair of hands. He fell forward as it was a rather hard shove but felt himself shoved the other direction in a similar fashion as he was falling. Out of nowhere the ground started shaking and he lost his footing and fell prone. When he tried to get up he was shoved down again and decided it was better to stay down. He had been in such a situation before and although he was scared it wasn’t anything too shocking.

“Look at him. He hasn’t even used his power yet. I know the X-Brats have a new guy but this is ridiculous! He isn’t even putting up a fight at all.” The voice sounded uncouth and a bit off. This didn’t make Neil feel any better.

“Well, I wanna sit on him. I have been wanting to squish one of the X-Brats for a while now and this looks like a perfect opportunity.” Sit on him? Uh oh, if this was who it seemed than he was in a lot more trouble than he had originally thought. Kitty had told him about the brotherhood and it seemed like this was them. The powers certainly seemed to match up to what he remembered of Kitty’s warnings. The wind was probably Quicksilver and the shaking was definitely Avalanche. The guy who wanted to sit on him was probably Blob. He was not pleased with this notion. Death by mutant fat ass was not pleasant sounding.

He heard heavy footsteps and his eyes grew wide, _Oh my god, they can’t be serious!_ He thought, but he was wrong. A large shadow appeared above him and only a strong shove rolled him out from under the giant man who landed inches from his face. At this point being on the ground was a bad idea so he jumped to his feet, he may not have a power but his reflexes were good. The ground started shaking again, this time more violently and he could barely hold his footing. Another shove sent him down but he caught himself on a nearby trunk before he could land on his back. That is until a green vine like thing that could only be Toad’s tongue grabbed his leg and pulled him prone again. He tried to shift around to get to his feet but the tongue was surprisingly strong and each time he managed to get some headway towards balance he was pulled off his feet again. The large man had turned around and just fell over onto him. He felt like he was beneath a boulder. He couldn’t breath and he was certain that the weight would crush his frail body quite quickly. He could barely hear and his vision was getting foggy. _I am going to die by asphyxiating on fat, I don't even get to be crushed. How pitiful._ He thought as he felt his consciousness leave him.

Suddenly there was a massive shake and the large man actually rolled off of him surprised. He gasped for breath as a random arm grabbed him and pulled him away to safety. When he got his breath back and felt he could talk again he turned towards his savior. Standing before him was a young woman about his age with jet back hair, blue eyes and what looked quite like a gothic style except for a red trench coat. He was wary of her. She met the description of another Brotherhood member, Wanda the Scarlet Witch. Still, she had saved him. “Thanks,” he said sheepishly. His voice sounded raspy to him though his heavy breathing. Strangely he felt okay other than being out of breath. It had been heavy but apparently he hadn’t been crushed. _Odd…_

“Don’t get used to it. They just didn’t get the memo that you aren’t a mutant and I didn’t want them to get in too much trouble. Killing you was going a bit too far for my taste.” She seemed cold, almost like she didn’t really believe what she was saying.

“Still, you did save me… by the way where are they anyway?”

Wanda put her hands on her hips, “Do you really care all that much? Now I just want to get this over with. So do you need my help finding the institute or can you find it yourself?”

“I thought you weren’t being helpful just saving their asses? Why do you care if I get to the institute safely or not?” Neil was shocked and as he tended to do with people his age he reacted with caution especially since there seemed to be something odd about this whole scenario.

“Let’s just say it’s your lucky day and leave it at that. My altruism is wearing thin. Do you need the escort or not?”

Neil decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. Despite what he had been told about her she had saved him from a rather grisly death or at least a very unpleasant fate if not death. “Thanks.” She grumbled something incomprehensible in response and led him in a direction that was not towards the town.

They didn’t speak at all as they walked. Neil was certain she didn’t want to be there which led him to believe that there was some other less altruistic reason why she was doing this. But since he couldn’t see what she could possibly get out of saving him that was particularly harmful he just decided why not. After all, it was either that or randomly wander the forest alone and he certainly didn’t want to do that.

When they got to a brick wall, Wanda said “We’re here.” And that was it. They parted ways. Neil felt awkward about the entire thing but she had saved him from something that scared him beyond all belief. The fact that they had even considered suffocating him on what was essentially solid fat was nauseating. Or at least it was mentally nauseating. Physically he had been too busy trying to breath for anything else to matter. And now it was nothing but a memory, a not so great memory but a memory none the less. Despite its innate grossness, it was by far not the worst he had. He shuddered at just the mention of those. They were not something he liked to even allude to, ever.

When he got to the gate he found Hank watering some flowers in the courtyard in what was an amusingly domestic fashion considering the nature of the school and the man holding the watering can. And that’s what it was, a standard watering can with pictures of daisies on it. He looked up quizzically and spoke, “Neil what are you doing here? You were supposed to stay with the others? They are probably worried about you now.”

“It’s a long story…” Was all he said.

“I’ll tell Charles to tell Logan not to worry. That you’re safe.” With that he thought for a second then nodded before turning to Neil again. “Now tell me this long story and maybe I can help clear it up with Ororo and Logan. You obviously broke the rules and neither of them take that very well.” Neil gulped. Maybe that stroll wasn’t such a good idea after all. Hank smiled his disarming smile and Neil relaxed a bit. He then started telling his tale. With that they walked into the house. It was then that Neil realized that through some odd twist of fate through the entire event he hadn’t lost his hat. _So at least something went right! I can’t imagine what they would have said if they found out I was bald. _

Neil wasn’t sure what to think about the school or where his life would go. But he knew what he wanted, he wanted to stay. He wanted to face this and not run. He wanted to stop running, because that’s what he had always done. Run…

Episode 1 - Complete


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